ExifTool: Read, Write, Edit Meta information

I was searching for a good EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) tool to view a complete meta information for jpeg pictures after long search I found this nice little application “ExifTool” a pearl based command line application which gives us tons of information about meta which lot of the tools doesn’t.

ExifTool is a platform-independent Perl library plus a command-line application for reading, writing and editing meta information in a wide variety of files – and it’s potable application. The usage is very simple just drag the file and drop it on the exiftool(-k).exe which will open in a command prompt with all the meta information. Or you can rename the exe to pl and use it as a command line application.

Read, Write, Edit Meta information

Here is little detail on how to use the app for the developers website:

From the command line:

The Perl application (“exiftool“) is run by typing “perl exiftool“. Alternately, you may be able to rename it to “exiftool.pl” and type “exiftool.pl“, but this requires that the proper Windows associations have been made for the the “.pl” extension.

The stand-alone version (“exiftool(-k).exe“) should be renamed to “exiftool.exe” to allow it to be run by typing “exiftool” at the command line.

If the exiftool executable (“exiftool.pl” or “exiftool.exe“) is not in the current directory or your system PATH, then its directory must be specified on the command line (ie. by typing “c:\path_to_exiftool\exiftool.pl” or “c:\path_to_exiftool\exiftool“).

Note that when typing commands in the “cmd.exe” shell, you should use double quotes instead of single quotes as shown in some examples.

Stand-alone version in the Windows GUI:

Double-click on “exiftool(-k).exe” to read the application documentation, or drag-and-drop files and folders to run exiftool on the selected files.

Simple options may be added inside brackets in the name of the stand-alone executable. (But note that the characters /\?*:|"<>may not be used because they are invalid in Windows file names.) In this way, the behaviour of the drag-and-drop application can be customized.

Shyam aka “Captain Jack” is a Microsoft MVP alumnus and a Windows Enthusiast with an interest in Advanced Windows troubleshooting. Suggestions made and opinions expressed by him here are his personal one’s and not of his current employers. He blogs at captaindbg.com.